San Antonio now is the 10th-largest U.S. airline gateway to Mexico, thanks to a new service introduced during the past year by Mexico-based airlines Interjet and VivaAerobus. A Southwest Airlines subsidiary, AirTran Airways, added Mexico service this year.

San Antonio, which 14 months ago had only Aeromexico providing service to Mexico, leapt into the top 10 with a 147 percent jump in Mexico departures from a little more than a year ago and a 194 percent increase in seating capacity.

In its quest for further international flights, San Antonio is armed with this new capacity and the addition of a federal trusted-passenger program called Global Entry at San Antonio International, which allows frequent international passengers to skip the passport inspection points.

The Airport System began an advertising campaign this summer in cities from San Marcos to Laredo and Corpus Christi to convince passengers there to think of San Antonio first as a Mexico airline gateway instead of Houston.

The Airport System has lured a lucrative conference to San Antonio for March 3-5 called Network USA, in which airport managers will “speed date” representatives of U.S., South American and European airlines for new routes.

Some of the visiting airline executives will see San Antonio, its River Walk and business/military communities for the first time, said Frank Miller, city aviation director, addressing Friday's meeting of the Latin America Caribbean Forum.

Southwest Airlines, which has served San Antonio for 41 years, is nearing a transition from domestic to international. It acquired AirTran and its international routes last year. Eventually, AirTran aircraft will convert to the Southwest brand.

But the key to obtaining new international routes is supporting and sustaining the higher number of Mexico departures.

A surprising obstacle, Miller said, is the frequent-flier programs with airlines that do not fly directly to Mexico. Many San Antonio passengers continue to prefer to fly to Mexico through Houston or Dallas just to add to their frequent-flier miles at airlines such as American Airlines and United Airlines. The San Antonio flying public must be made aware of the convenience of the new nonstop choices to Mexico, Miller said.

San Antonio passengers flying internationally each year total 791,000. Those traveling to Mexico number 187,000. Obviously, most international fliers are making connections through other airports to reach their destinations.

One such traveler at the forum meeting was Don Davis, owner of Don Davis Realty Group. Davis and his associates make a dozen trips between San Antonio and Panama City each year, but they have to fly through Houston on Continental Airlines.

Davis said he would prefer to fly direct to Panama and said demand for the route will grow. The new U.S.-Panama trade agreement “will significantly increase traffic,” Davis said.

Justifying the “international” at San Antonio International is a constant struggle. The effort continues.